Russia suggests coronavirus death toll is three times higher than reported

Deputy prime minister implies around 186,000 deaths have been linked to the virus

Russia’s coronavirus death toll could be three times higher than officially reported, the deputy prime minister has suggested (AFP via Getty Images)

Russia has suggested its coronavirus death toll is three times higher than the official count.

Tatyana Golikova, the deputy prime minister, said an increase in the number of deaths from January to November compared to the year before – reported by the state statistics agency - was largely down to coronavirus.

The total death toll from all causes in the first 11 months of this year rose by 229,700 - almost 14 per cent - compared to the same period in 2019, data from Rosstat showed. 

Ms Golikova told a government meeting: "I would like to note that over 81 per cent of the increase in mortality in this period is related to Covid and the consequences of being infected with Covid.”


The deputy PM’s comments suggest around 186,000 deaths in Russia from the start of the year until last month could be linked to coronavirus.  

This is compared to a death toll of 55,827 reported by the Russian government’s coronavirus task force – a figure which also includes fatalities that happened in December.

Rosstat, the state statistics agency who released new data on Monday, said 116,030 people with coronavirus died between April and November.

This figure includes cases where the virus was not the main cause of death, as well as when an infection was suspected but not officially confirmed.

The agency also counted 70,921 deaths where Covid-19 was the main cause between April and November, while the task force - which reports deaths on a daily basis - had reported 40,464 deaths by the start of December. 

Rosstat releases updated statistics every month and analyses the data retroactively, which allows a fuller picture. 

Russian officials have put the differences between task force and Rosstat figures down to different counting methods, saying the task force only looks at deaths where coronavirus was the main cause.

However, experts have suggested other factors - such as a tendency among officials to embellish statistics and Russia’s vast geography - could contribute to the low official count.

Russia has one of the largest total number of coronavirus cases in the world, standing at more than 3.1 million on Tuesday, according to a count by Reuters. Only the US, India and Brazil had higher tallies.

Russia is currently in the grip of a second wave of coronavirus, although authorities have avoided imposing a national lockdown to control the spread of the virus.

The country has been hit with a rapid resurgence of infections since September, with numbers of confirmed infections and deaths significantly exceeding those reported in spring. 

A voluntary coronavirus vaccination programme with the Russian-made Sputnik V jab was launched earlier this month, which started with the most vulnerable groups in Moscow. 

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will also receive this vaccine, a Kremlin spokesperson has said. 

Additional reporting by Associated Press